Recognized for their leadership skills and commitment to volunteering, Saint Joseph High School juniors Meng-Chieh Yang and James Xing were recently named 2008 recipients of the Saint Michael’s College Scholarship and Service Book Award.
Recipients are awarded a scholarship to help pay for enrollment to the college, if they choose to attend.
Located in Vermont, Saint Michael’s College is a liberal arts Catholic school founded on the principles of charity. The award is meant to honor students who demonstrate the true spirit of volunteerism.
Award recipients are chosen from schools throughout the country. Potential winners are high school juniors who are inductees of the National Honors Society or a similar school-sponsored group, and are involved in service-based activities at school or in their communities.
Yang is a member of Saint Joe’s National Honors Society, a youth ambassador at the Abel Maldonado Youth Center, and a volunteer in the children’s section of the Santa Maria Public Library.
Xing is also a Saint Joe’s National Honor Society member, and volunteers at the Santa Maria Public Library and Marian Medical Center.
Along with the scholarship, Yang and Xing received copies of the book First They Took My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers, an autobiography of Saint Michael’s College graduate Loung Ung, who survived captivity during the genocidal Pol Pot regime in Cambodia.
Yang said she plans to read the book as soon as possible, but is currently busy reading books on a summer reading list for school.
“I think reading gives you different perspectives of the world,” she said. “It’s important because it gives you knowledge.”
This article appears in Jul 17-24, 2008.
